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Port Washington board recommends daylighting Valley Creek culvert at Lake Street
Summary
The Board of Public Works voted to recommend to the Common Council a revised design that would daylight Valley Creek at Lake Street, expanding floodplain, improving fish passage and maintaining existing parking counts while changing parking layout.
Port Washington’s Board of Public Works voted March 10 to recommend that the Common Council approve a revised Valley Creek design that would daylight the creek at Lake Street and replace the long box culvert with shorter, more open crossings.
Stantec engineers Sarah Majeras and Heather Schwier presented the concept, saying the plan expands the floodplain, increases infiltration through native habitat restoration, shortens culvert length to improve fish passage and improves park aesthetics while keeping roughly the same number of parking spaces in a reconfigured layout. “We would be not only daylighting the downstream 250 linear feet, but the section upstream,” Majeras said, adding the plan would include an overflow wetland complex and re-meandering to reduce erosion and improve water quality.
The board’s staff lead, Rob, and Stantec emphasized anticipated flood-control and ecological benefits. Heather Schwier listed advantages including more flood storage, improved infiltration, easier utility access and lower structure cost because the shorter structure is less expensive to build. She also noted tradeoffs: increased earthwork, changes to parking footprints, limited turnaround opportunities and potential slowed traffic where parking shifts to the roadside.
Board members raised safety and traffic concerns. One member said the northernmost parking stalls near the curve off the bluff may create sight-line problems for drivers and recommended evaluating angled or back‑in parking; another asked whether bank reconstruction and sanitary sewer protection would be part of the work. Stantec said bank reconstruction, grading for a new channel and protections for subsurface utilities would be included in the design.
Alderman Tierney moved to recommend the daylighting/open‑box option to the Common Council; the motion was seconded and carried. Staff said there is no construction planned for 2026 and that 2027 would be the earliest expected groundbreaking; final design completion is targeted for 90 percent by May, and the item will go before the Common Council at its April 8 meeting for formal action.
The board asked staff and the design team to further study vehicle sightlines and parking geometry and to coordinate with Parks & Recreation and marina stakeholders on long‑term parking alternatives. The recommendation now advances to the council for a final vote.
